Take it to Heart
by Hope Falls
Summary: Bones has never been one for the Holidays, but what happens when a case brings her to New York City and she sees what the season, as well as a certain FBI Agent, have to offer?


TITLE: Take it to Heart

AUTHOR: Jen (hopefalls)

FANDOM: Bones

RATING: PG-13

WORD COUNT: 2,555

There were many things that Dr. Temperance Brennan knew. She knew the average circumference of a five year old child's skull, she knew how to read and identify bones as well as the person that they belonged to, she knew all of the anthropological reasons for events and actions as well as the actions and conditions behind specific markings on bone. Truth be told, she was an extremely bright woman who felt as though on a general basis she had the answers. But this... _this _made no sense to the forensic anthropologist whatsoever. The intent blue eyes of the thirty-something drifted around her surroundings slowly taking in the sights as she had promised her best friend, Angela Montenegro that she would do. They had been window shopping in the crisp and yet enjoyable bitter air of Washington D.C. in late November. And being as how Thanksgiving had already come and gone what most would describe as yuletide joy filled the air. White Christmas lights brightly decorated the telephone poles as well as the now snow covered trees, the melody of "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" floating from the ever opening and closing retail shop doors. Letting a collected breath escape from her lungs Brennan stopped in her tracks, Angela coming to a halt as well. "Okay, Ange, I think I've had enough."

"Bren... we haven't even actually gone into a store. That was kind of the point. To Christmas shop, you know. Get us in the mood for the most wonderful time of the year." There was almost a sing-song tone to Angela's voice as she had spoken, a seemingly unbreakable smile crossing her lips. It was true, she was already caught up in the Christmas season, the nostalgia that always came with it. The memories of Christmas past.

"I don't Christmas shop." Brennan told her without missing a beat as Angela had grabbed hold of her wrist, pulling her into a store where Santa Clause stood outside steadily shaking a bell, looking for donations for no doubt a worthy cause as he offered a smile the way of each shopper that entered the store. Angela offered a warm smile before reaching into her purse and slipping a small donation into the pot before entering the warmth of the store with Brennan. "Christmas is just an over commercialized holiday that was once about the birth of Christ, that is if those are your beliefs. And has now turned completely into something different about materialistic needs and wants. That man out there wasn't even Santa Clause, Ange. There's no such thing." The store was fairly quiet less the sound of the music playing in the background and the carrying sound of Temperance Brennan's voice.

Angela's eyes widened slightly at not only the words that had escaped the lips of her best friend, but the many pairs of eyes that had landed on them immediately thereafter. There were several scowls directed towards them and Angela took a deep breath before gently placing a hand on Brennan's arm. "Sweetie, next time that you decide you want to be the Christmas Grinch, keep your voice down unless your goal is to make the children cry." With that being said Angela sent a few mother's in the store an apologetic look before she began leading Brennan from the store, unsure of what else she might say and hoping to stay away from an argument with a disgruntled mother.

"What's a Christmas Grinch?" Brennan asked seriously, her forehead creasing for a short moment before she shook it off. "I wasn't trying to be a... Christmas Grinch. Well, at least I don't think I was." The confusion in her voice was evident, as was the uneasy expression on her face. Brennan didn't watch television, not very often. And so she had never heard of the Grinch, or the way in which he had tried to spoil Christmas in Whoville. " I wasn't trying to make the children cry, I was simply stating a fact. There is no such thing as San-"

"Woah, woah, woah." As Angela had paused as though in thought as to what to say, the conversation that she was having centered around the Christmas holiday and apparently its relative fakeness was interrupted by the sound of a cell phone ringing. Before Angela even had a brief moment to fish the cell phone from her purse, Brennan's cell was already to her ear.

"Brennan." Moments after Temperance Brennan had answered the phone a serious look crossed her face and Angela immediately knew what that meant. She was on the phone with her partner, FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth. And usually that meant that they had a new case. Because if the team at the Jeffersonian Institute was currently working on a case, there was no way that Angela would have found it at all possible to drag her friend away from the lab- even for a few hours. That was one thing that everyone around her respected- Doctor Brennan's work ethic. She supposed that it had been a part of her life for so long, finding who the remains belonged to... the life and the person behind the remains that she truly didn't feel as though she was missing out on anything. Maybe due to the fact that for years she herself had lost her parents, or so she had thought. They had gone missing when she was merely fifteen, and only a few years ago she had found out the truth. So in devoting herself wholly to these cases and people she felt as though she was giving something back- maybe even their peace of mind. Something that she had felt devoid of for so long.

So Brennan never really felt as though her life was devoid of anything spectacular. She had friends though the majority of those friends were the ones that she worked closely with day in and day out. And as far as love was concerned? Brennan didn't believe in it- at least, not an exclusive love. How could you devote yourself to one person entirely for the rest of your life? It wasn't logical. _It wasn't anthropological. _And things that didn't have an anthropological base were much harder for her to grasp, let alone believe in. Dating and sex? Those were things that, in moderation made sense to Brennan. There was an anthropological reason- the release of certain hormones, reproduction. But beyond that? It wasn't something that Brennan could grasp. Or maybe, just maybe it wasn't something that Temperance had ever opened herself up enough to truly feel. Sure, she had been in relationships before but she had never truly opened herself up to the possibilities or the hurt that could come along with a broken heart. Which was precisely why she was always the one to say goodbye, as was with Sully.

After another moment of listening to her partner rattling off the details of their newly assigned case she snapped her cell phone close, eyes lifting to meet the soft chocolate ones of her friend. "We've got a body."

* * * *

Dr. Temperance Brennan's back hunched over, eyes examining the remains that lay on the forensic platform of the Jeffersonian Institute. "Bones, what've you got?" Brennan paused briefly, gloved hands moving over the skull methodically as she took in nearly every detail. When she felt as though she'd covered every detail of what her highly trained eye could determine, she looked up to see her partner Seeley Booth watching her intently. And from what she could gather, rather impatiently.

"Female. Late teens to early twenties. Caucasian." Brennan paused for a moment as she glanced up, noting that Booth had moved closer to her to look over the remains that they had of the deceased girl. "Do they have the crime scene photos, Booth?"

Booth nodded as he let out an impatient breath. Silently he slid the photos from the file, handing them to his partner. "She was found last night by one of the local prostitutes who goes by Candy... she reported it to the NYPD." Booth explained further as Brennan studied the crime scene photos.

"This is all that there was?" Brennan asked as she was rejoined by Hodgins and Angela, both hoping to be of help. But knowing much of how their partnership worked, they remained quiet as Brennan seemed to be working something over in her mind.

Angela looked to her friend with a slight smile. "Okay, Booth. When you interrupted mine and Brennan's shopping trip you said that there was a _body_. Where's the body?"

Booth offered Angela a somewhat sarcastic look, his lips pursed together before he spoke. "So sorry to interrupt your shopping expedition, Ange, but I think a dead person kind of trumps that. And body, skull... isn't that just technical speak anyways?" Angela and Hodgins silently exchanged a look. Hodgins shook his head barely holding in the chuckle that lay underneath directed towards the FBI Agent.

"Okay, so all I've got to work with is the skull." Brennan spoke outwardly, mostly as a note to herself. After a brief moments thought she turned her attention to Jack Hodgins. "Alright, Hodgins... I've got a soil sample here, as well as some other items that were found in the skull as well. Run it by Cam and then do a full analysis and just let me know what you find out. Hopefully the bugs can help us figure out time of death."

"Wait, all you've got to work with is a skull?" Booth asked her after a moment, a definitive sound of confusion in his tone. "They sent over all remains, including a heart. So you've got a skull and a heart." Booth determined slowly before glancing down at his watch. "Say Bones, are you almost done here for tonight? We've got court in the morning..."

"Muscle."

"What?" Booth examined his partner with a look of utter confusion crossing his features.

"I said muscle. The heart is a muscle, which I don't specialize in. I study bones. Which is precisely why you call me Bones, not Muscle." Brennan told him pointedly as her eyebrows arched slightly, an amused smirk pulling her lips upwards slightly. "Though if you did call me Muscle, it would make me sound like I was from the mob, wouldn't it?"

Booth rolled his eyes visibly at his partner as she tried her best to make a joke. And despite himself a small chuckle worked itself up to the surface. "Very clever, Bones. Really. But how about you finish up so we can get you home so you can focus completely on the Marcy Peterson case. You should be studying that case, not getting it confused with this one. So now that you've done your part pass it off to the squint squad. They can handle it."

"Done my part? Booth. I've only spent twenty minutes with the skull. That's barely been enough time to determine the sex, approximate age and race. I haven't had enough time to see if the cause of death is written somewhere in the bone, and I really think that I should be-"

"Bones." Booth paused for a long moment to be sure that he had Brennan's complete attention. "You've done what needs to be done to get the ball rolling. Hodgins is doing his bug... thing. And I'm sure that if you asked Angela she could give this girl a face. And then after you testify at the Marcy Peterson trial tomorrow you can devote your time to the remains from this girl. But we don't need you to get the facts from the Peterson cased confused with this one. That piece of garbage deserves to rot for the rest of his life... and since you are the expert witness, they need you."

Brennan was silent as she looked at Booth. The truth was that she knew that Booth was right, not that she liked to admit that aloud very often. They had spent countless hours working on the Marcy Peterson case. It had been a brutal murder of a fourteen year old girl who was then dismembered and then disposed of as though she were nothing more than trash. She deserved her complete attention and accuracy during her testimony tomorrow. After a moment Brennan nodded her head before turning to Angela. "Ange, try to get a facial reconstruction and run it through the data base to see if we can get a match. I didn't have the time to add the markers to the face-"

"Bren, we've got it. Booth is right, you should go."

"This is Brennan and I leaving. Do _not _call her for anything, unless it's life or death. Got it? Life or death." Booth spoke slowly and precisely, being sure to put the majority of his emphasis on the word 'death'. The squints always seemed to follow his instruction when he threatened them rather than asked them. And in this particular case it was extremely important that they left Brennan out of the loop. She needed her sleep, needed to be fresh on the stand tomorrow. And the very last thing that she needed was to confuse any portion of this new case with the Marcy Peterson case.

"Alright Booth, I'm going. Just let me grab my things from my office and then I'm gone. Alright?" Brennan sent a slightly irritated look in his direction. Though she did thoroughly understand what he was trying to do and even agreed with it, he had a tendency of being quite pushy to get what he wanted. "Sometimes you can be so pushy..." She murmured once they had arrived in her office. Silently the anthropologist bent down to scoop up her purse, coat, and the Peterson case notes to take home with her. If she found it hard to fall asleep when she arrived home she could go over the notes once more to be sure that she didn't miss anything for tomorrow's testimony.

Booth breathed out as he heard the murmured words of his partner. "I'm sorry Bones, alright? It's not very often that I say that either, so just take it and don't argue or over analyze what I'm saying. You don't like psychology so don't try using it now." After a short pause Booth took her purse and case notes from her so that she could slip into her coat before they made their into the bitter air that wait outside. "Oh, by the way Bones? Make sure you pack a few bags for yourself when you get home. Once the Peterson case is over and they've read the verdict, we're on the first flight to New York City."

A look of slight confusion crossed her features as they made their way into the carport. "Booth... what aren't you telling me? We've already got the remains at the Jeffersonian, why would we need to go to New York?"

"Did you just happen to forget everything we just discussed about focusing on the Marcy Peterson case?"

"Booth."

"Fine, fine. But I'm not telling you any other information until tomorrow." Booth paused as he glanced at his partner, a serious look crossing his features. " Another skull and heart were found, this time in Central Park. I think we've got a serial killer on out hands."


End file.
